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Artemisia vulgaris L.
3168 (1). A. vulgaris L., Sp. Pl. ed. 1 (1753) 848; Hayek, Prodr. Fl. Penins. Balc. 2 (1931) 657; Cullen, Fl. Turkey, 5 (1975) 313; Tutin, Fl. Eur. 4 (1976) 180; Exs.: Pl. Bulg. Exsicc. № 597 - Черен пелин

Fam: Asteraceae (Compositae)
Genus: Artemisia L.
Species: Artemisia vulgaris L.
English Name: Common mugwortр, Riverside wormwood,[3] Felon herb, Chrysanthemum weed, Wild wormwood, Old Uncle Henry, Sailor's tobacco, Naughty man, Old man or St. John's plant

Description:

Perennial plant. Rhizome shortened, thickened at the top, without creeping shoots. Stems (30) 60 - 100 (200) cm tall, few, rarely single or numerous, erect or ascending, dense, cylindrical, longitudinally ribbed, branched, especially in the upper half, green or greenish-purple to dark brown, most often in the lower part simple or spider web fibrous to almost bare. Leaves 3 - 15 cm long and 2 - 11 cm wide, simple pinnately cut or dissected, the lower ones on short petioles, the rest sessile, green to dark green on top, glabrous or scattered short fibrous, white below, felted fibrous; shares 1 - 10 cm long and 0.8 - 2.5 cm wide, elliptically lance or linear lance, bent down, serrated or endowed, usually the upper descending, the lowest pair at the base of the leaf in the form of little ears. Baskets 3 - 5 mm long and 1.5 - 3 mm wide, oblong or narrowly bell-shaped, with a few blossoms, numerous, in spike-shaped erect, spreading and bent inflorescences, on short felted fibrous petioles, at the base most often with simple bracts collected in loose complex paniculate inflorescence. Wrapping leafletes grayish white, more or less cobwebby felted fibrous, at the end with a broad colorless membranous edge, the outer ovate lance, pointed, the inner longer, elliptical, obtuse. The flower bed is bare. Flowers with reddish or light brown bare corollas; external 7 - 10 female flowers, tubular to filamentous; internal (5) 8 - 20, bisexual, fertile. Fruit seeds semi-cylindrical to ovoid.

Economic significance. Medicinal plant. Aboveground parts (Herba Artemisiae vulgaris) are used in folk and official medicine as an appetite stimulant, antispasmodic and sedative. It has insecticidal properties.

From:    „Флора на Република България”, том XI, БАН, Академично издателство „Проф. Марин Дринов”, София, (2013)

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Artemisia vulgaris, the common mugwort,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus Artemisia commonly known as mugwort, although Artemisia vulgaris is the species most often called mugwort. It is also occasionally known as riverside wormwood,[3] felon herb, chrysanthemum weed, wild wormwood, old Uncle Henry, sailor's tobacco, naughty man, old man or St. John's plant (not to be confused with St John's wort).[4] Mugworts have been used medicinally and as culinary herbs.

Distribution

Artemisia vulgaris is native to temperate Europe, Asia, northern Africa and Alaska and is naturalized in North America,[5] where some consider it an invasive weed. It is a very common plant growing on nitrogenous soils, like weedy and uncultivated areas, such as waste places and roadsides.[6]

Uses

Traditionally, it was, and is, used as one of the flavoring and bittering agents of gruit ales, a type of non-hopped, fermented grain beverage.
In Nepal, the plant is also called "Titepati" (Tite meaning bitter, pati meaning leaf) and is used as an offering to the gods, for cleansing the environment (by sweeping floors or hanging a bundle outside the home), as incense, and also as a medicinal plant.[7]
The dried leaves are often smoked or drunk as a tea to promote lucid dreaming. This supposed oneirogenic effect is believed to be due to the thujone contained in the plant.

Description

Artemisia vulgaris is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing 1–2 m (rarely 2.5 m) tall, with an extensive rhizome system. Rather than depending on seed dispersal, Artemisia vulgaris spreads through vegetative expansion and the anthropogenic dispersal of root rhizome fragments.[8] The leaves are 5–20 cm long, dark green, pinnate and sessile, with dense white tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stems are grooved and often have a red-purplish tinge. The rather small florets (5 mm long) are radially symmetrical with many yellow or dark red petals. The narrow and numerous capitula (flower heads), all fertile, spread out in racemose panicles. It flowers from mid-summer to early autumn.[9]
A number of species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) such as Ostrinia scapulalis feed on the leaves and flowers of the plant.[10]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Flowering Time: Flowering: VII - IX, fruitful: VШ - ХП.

Distribution in Bulgaria: Growing on the outskirts of forests and bushes, on moist grassy, stony and sandy riparian places, on abandoned and weedy terrains, near settlements, roads, railways. lines, etc., weeder in cereals and trench crops, vineyards and orchards, in the lowlands and mountains. Widespread, from sea level to 1000 (2000) m above sea level. (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.

Distribution: Europe (excluding the extreme north and south), Caucasus, Siberia, Central and Southwest Asia. Adventively in North America.

Conservation status and threats: not protected species in Bulgaria by the Biodiversity Law. - Biological Diversity Act - http://eea.government.bg/bg/legislation/biodiversity/zbran_22.08.15.pdf

Medical plant: yes, it is medical plan - Medicinal Plants Act - http://eea.government.bg/bg/legislation/biodiversity/ZLR_en.pdf

References: „Флора на Република България”, том XI, БАН, Академично издателство „Проф. Марин Дринов”, София, (2013), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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E-mail: krnanev@gmail.com

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